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Report - Stank and Yarlside mines near Barrow in Furness, Jan 2014

28DL Full Member

The rain stopped for a day so to Yarlside to try to make amends for my previous post.

History:
Thomas Storey and his brother in law, William Boulton formed the Yarlside mining company in 1868 against the advice of experts. On the other side of the hill, the Barrow Haematite Steel Company sank a borehole looking for coal and found a vein of haematite. Their lease dates to 1871.
Yarlside was prone to inrushes of "running sand" ("pissing sand" in some accounts). To deal with the sand and the water they installed two large Hathorn Davey pumping engines at No8 and No11 pits.
High pumping costs, ore with a high phosphorous content and the necessity of paying royalties to two dukes made the mine unprofitable and Sir Thomas (as he then was) wrote rather tactlessly to the agent of the Duke of Buccleuch:

â€œDear Mr Wadham,
If you insist on having your pound of flesh, I must make some sacrifice and try to find it for you. - But before I set about it will you kindly tell me whether in your arrangements with the Barrow Co. you see any chance of them making me an offer which I can accept for acquiring my interest - which means the whole - in Yarlside. (handwriting becomes a scrawl)
Engine bed at No8 with the flooded shaft of No11 in the foreground.
No8 pit had a compound pumping engine with 30" and 60" cylinders.

No 11 pit had an engine with 38" and 60" cylinders

square holes for hold-down bolts
Cooling pond

Stank mines.
No 1 pit in the foreground is still standing and grade II listed. The building housed a 40" Cornish engine. No2 on the left was demolished. It was drained by a 72" Cornish engine. No5 in the background up the hill was the next stop. It was the site of a 70" Cornish engine.
At No5 pit the engine bed is suspended above the collapsed shaft
The smithy has planning permission for conversion to a holiday home and has been cleared out. It once housed 6 hearths. No1 engine house in the background.
The lime torching is as good as new.
Thanks for looking, I hope this is an improvement.